Lot 44
CHONG SIEW YING
b. Kuala Lumpur, 1969
PINK LILY, 2007
Oil on canvas
114cm x 120cm
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Kuala Lumpur;
acquired through Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur.
ESTIMATE RM 20,000 - 30,000
PRICE REALISED RM 18,700
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The blooms of the Pink Lily resonate with hope and aspirations like a woman on the cusp of experiencing a whole new world and sensations. Chong Siew Ying’s joyous intimations of figures and faces loom largely in the landscapes exuding a feel of mystery, maybe even a consciousness of one’s erotic nature. Here, only half a face is revealed, with the luscious lips in lilac grey tones slightly parted, juxtaposed against the lusty pink of the flowers. There is no telling the emotional make-up of the personality without the eyes being shown. But Siew Ying’s works are always imbued with a positive optimism and her light ruminations’ about life, relationships, femininity, humility and nature. In this painting, we see her take on the concept of beauty and exoticism, stripping the portrait of any specific cultural references and portraying a private moment of self-reflection and vulnerability. Pink Lily marks a subtle emotional maturity and a sophisticated sense of beauty from her earlier works on infectious laughing faces.
Siew Ying graduated with a Diploma in Graphic Design at the Petaling Jaya College of Art and Design in 1990. To pursue her dream of studying Art in Paris, she took on a job as an au pair before concentrating on her Art studies first at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Versailles (1991 to 1994) after which she studied and taught at the International Printmaking Centre Atelier 63 while working and exhibiting as an artist in the city. She returned to Malaysia in 1998 and won the Rimbun Dahan artist residency from 1999 to 2000. In 2001, she was selected for the Vermont Studio Centre residency in the United States. Her solo exhibitions in the region include Many Splendoured Things (2006), Going Away, Coming Home (2002) and Chong Siew Ying: Selected works 1996-1997 in 1998 in Kuala Lumpur. In Paris, she had solo exhibitions at the Maison Tch’A, Atelier D. Maravel and Gallery Cafe Panique. She won a Special Award in the Young Contemporary Artists Competition in 2002 and was a finalist for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize in 2005. Her works are collected by the National Visual Arts Gallery in Kuala Lumpur and respected private collections in Malaysia, Singapore, France and the USA.
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